The Compleat Poet: Moving from Amateur to Literary Excellence
Poetry Guide 1
Many years ago, I had the opportunity to ghostwrite an advanced poetry course for a university literature program, titled The Compleat Poet. This course was designed to take poets beyond the basics, beyond simply expressing emotions or constructing rhyming lines, into the hallway of mastery. It was about developing the craft to a level where one's work could be taken seriously by the literary world and fellow poets alike.
There is nothing wrong with being an amateur poet. Poetry, at its heart, is about personal expression. But if you want to move from simply writing poems to writing memorable poems, the difference lies in how you develop and communicate your ideas.
This lesson, drawn from The Compleat Poet, is one of the most essential steps in that journey. If you can adopt and internalize it, you’ll find yourself shifting from simply stating emotions to crafting experiences that resonate deeply with readers.
Finding Poetry in the Fog: How to Develop a Topic and Show, Not Tell
We’ve all been there. You wake up feeling drained, uninspired, maybe even a little depressed. Your mind is a blank slate, but not the good kind….more like a fogged-up window where nothing sharp or meaningful seems to take shape. You want to write a poem, but all you can think to say is: “I feel tired. I feel stuck. I have writer’s block.”
And while honesty is essential in poetry, simply stating your emotions outright often lacks the depth and resonance that great poetry needs. The trick, then, is to translate those feelings into imagery, metaphor, and suggestion. Instead of telling your reader what you feel, invite them to feel it with you.
Step 1: Start With the Sensory
Instead of declaring “I woke up feeling depressed,” immerse yourself in the physical sensations of the feeling. What does it actually feel like in your body? Is your chest heavy, like a rain-soaked coat draped over a chair? Are your limbs slow and resistant, as if wading through knee-high mud? Is the morning light slicing into your room too sharply, making the world feel too exposed, too raw?
This is where you begin. Describe the environment, your bodily sensations, or even an external detail that reflects your internal state. Readers don’t need to be told “I am sad” when they can feel the weight of it through carefully chosen details.
Step 2: Find a Metaphor That Captures the Emotion
Poetry thrives on metaphor…on taking something concrete and imbuing it with emotional weight. If you’re feeling creatively blocked, don’t just say, “I have writer’s block.” Instead, compare it to something tangible and evocative.
For instance:
The words refuse to gather, like pigeons startled into the air, wheeling in mindless circles.
The page stretches before me, white as an empty parking lot after closing time.
Each idea crumbles between my fingers, dry as dead leaves.
Metaphors make emotions come alive. They allow your reader to experience your state of mind through vivid, textured imagery.
Step 3: Use Allusion and Symbolism
You don’t have to say, “I feel lost.” Instead, you might allude to a famous explorer who wandered too far. You don’t have to say, “I feel empty,” when you could describe a forgotten attic, the dust swirling in shafts of unused light. Symbolism gives depth to emotion and invites the reader to connect the dots themselves.
For example:
Orpheus turns, and the words slip away, shadows retreating into the underworld of my mind.
I am the lighthouse keeper who forgot to light the flame, watching ships veer off course.
The tea grows cold in my hands, steam dissipating like something that once mattered.
Step 4: Engage with the World Around You
If your internal world feels too heavy, look outward. Describe the room you’re in, the way the window warps the outside world, the way the clock hands drag themselves forward. Often, writing about an object or scene can indirectly reflect your emotional state without making it explicit.
Imagine you write:
The curtains stir, barely moving, as if sighing in their sleep.
A single spider charts the ceiling, spinning circles like a thought I can’t quite hold.
The neighbor’s dog barks, sharp and insistent, demanding a world more responsive than mine.
These external observations mirror internal emotions without resorting to direct statements.
Step 5: Let Contradictions Exist
Sometimes the most powerful poetry lies in contrast—placing light against dark, noise against silence. If you feel dull and uninspired, juxtapose it with something vibrant and full of life. If you feel like the world is too much, describe something eerily still. This push and pull creates tension, which makes poetry compelling.
For example:
The street outside thrums with urgency, but my bones are made of sleep.
Sunlight knives through the blinds, bright, insistent—mocking my unlit thoughts.
A child laughs, the sound high and careless, cutting through my quiet like a stone into water.
Step 6: Trust the Reader
Your reader is smart. They don’t need to be spoon-fed emotions. If you set the scene with rich imagery, allusion, and sensory detail, they will feel what you mean without you having to spell it out.
Consider these two lines:
I feel like giving up. Nothing is working.
The ink dries in the well. I set down my pen.
The second line says the same thing but in a way that leaves room for interpretation, for feeling. It’s the difference between stating and evoking—between prose and poetry.
Final Thoughts: Let the Poem Find You
You don’t have to start with an idea. Start with a detail, an image, a moment. Describe how the morning light looks on your wall. Describe the weight of your hands. Describe the sound of an engine outside your window. Let your emotions seep into the details instead of making them the subject itself.
Poetry isn’t about announcing how you feel—it’s about crafting an experience that lets the reader feel alongside you. And even on the foggiest mornings, there’s poetry waiting somewhere in the mist.
I have extracted some pieces from my course, “The Compleat Poet”, and formed it into a set of Guides which are available free to subscribers of Poetry Genius.
Happy writing!
Tom